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Newbie Question About Freezing

Derelict

Derelict

It's my third year but my first true productive year doing this, and I now have megahots (especially ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers) coming out of my ears.
 
I think I've decided to freeze my extras, and have some simple questions (think Ghost Pepper here):
 
1)  Freeze whole or cut in half?
 
2)  Remove seeds?
 
3)  Should I roast them first to bring out the flavor? 
 
 
Thanks for any advice you might have!
 
Derelict said:
It's my third year but my first true productive year doing this, and I now have megahots (especially ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers) coming out of my ears.
 
I think I've decided to freeze my extras, and have some simple questions (think Ghost Pepper here):
 
1)  Freeze whole or cut in half?
 
2)  Remove seeds?
 
3)  Should I roast them first to bring out the flavor? 
 
 
Thanks for any advice you might have!
Click to expand...
 
 
1. Half - and stemmed.
2.Depends - what are you going to do with them?
3. Sorry, no experience with that aspect.
 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
2.Depends - what are you going to do with them?
 
Click to expand...
 
All my peppers are grown for home use in salsas and dips.  I tend to like having the option to retain seeds.
 
One other question came to mind.  Do I just place the halved peppers in an ordinary freezer bag or do you do something more complicated than that?
 
 
1  I freeze them whole.  Never had a problem.  Just be forewarned that when frozen peppers thaw, whether halved or whole, they will be soft.  Nothing like fresh.
 
2  Obviously I leave the seeds in while freezing.  If I want to save seeds I will remove them first as fresh seeds will be damaged by the freezing process.  
 
3  Never tried that.
 
Other question:  If you plan to use them this winter a freezer bag will be fine.  For long term storage a vacuum sealer would be better.
Note:  I still have Thai chili's from last year in freezer bags that are still fine but I wouldn't count on telling someone else to do that.  I just got lucky I guess.
 
wash, de-stem and at least cut in half.  First, by cutting in half you can check for bugs and bad spots on the inside, and secondly, halving the peppers cuts down on the space they take up in the freezer. 
 
Personally, I wash, trim and then pulse a couple times in a food processor.  This reaaallly cuts down on the space in the freezer. 
 
roast or smoke the peppers if you think you want that flavor profile.  Otherwise, just put them in fresh.
 
 
 
Tybo said:
Other question:  If you plan to use them this winter a freezer bag will be fine.  For long term storage a vacuum sealer would be better.
Note:  I still have Thai chili's from last year in freezer bags that are still fine but I wouldn't count on telling someone else to do that.  I just got lucky I guess.
Click to expand...
 
This is a good piece of advice, thanks.  Frankly, I want to use up all my frozen peppers just about the time the new crop is coming in next year, so the ordinary freezer bag ought to work just fine.
 
 
Gargoyle91 said:
I always found they get mushy after they thaw , Can you ferment them after freezing ?
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I understand mushy, but I assume they still taste about the same?  All my peppers go into sauces anyway so they eventually get blended.
 
 
salsalady said:
wash, de-stem and at least cut in half.  First, by cutting in half you can check for bugs and bad spots on the inside, and secondly, halving the peppers cuts down on the space they take up in the freezer. 
 
Personally, I wash, trim and then pulse a couple times in a food processor.  This reaaallly cuts down on the space in the freezer. 
 
roast or smoke the peppers if you think you want that flavor profile.  Otherwise, just put them in fresh.
Click to expand...
 
Salsalady, thanks!  Problem is, in my household, my wife is barely tolerant of this little avocation of mine.  I already catch hell for using her Ninja; if I start using her food processor I might be outside sleeping with my peppers the next night! 
 
So I might have to find a small inexpensive processor to dedicate to the peppers.
 
Yes, I am concerned that freezing will affect flavor;  I freeze roasted Hatch chiles that I purchase at the local grocery store because it has a big impact if not roasted. 
 
I'm less concerned about roasting for red megahots, because they generally just add fire to recipes, but I luv the smoky flavor of the brown megahots (especially my new favorite this year, Ethiopian Brown) so I might roast just those before freezing.
 
 
TEXTURE will be affected by freezing, flavor will not be affected.

Food processoring is not super critical. Even just giving them a rough chop with a knife helps save space in the freezer.
 
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